Boston Voters Narrow Mayoral Field to Two

EVE EPSTEIN , Associated Press

Sep. 22, 1993 12:42 AM ET

BOSTON (AP) _ The acting mayor and a state legislator finished one-two in Tuesday's mayoral primary and will square off in a November election to pick a successor to longtime Mayor Raymond L. Flynn.

With 201 of 252 precincts reporting, acting Mayor Thomas Menino led an eight-candidate field with 22,765 votes or 27 percent. Rep. James Brett, a Democrat, was second with 18,535 votes or 24 percent.

Suffolk County Sheriff Robert Rufo was third with 17,498 votes, or 20 percent, and City Councilor Rosaria Salerno had 14,858 votes, or 17 percent for fourth place. The other candidates trailed far behind.

''I built a base and tonight it came to fruition,'' Menino said afterward.

During the campaign Menino said he wasn't a fancy talker but that Bostonians didn't want that anyway.

He said voters ''want to move Boston forward, not cling to the past, and above all, they've had enough talk, they want action.''

Brett told supporters, ''Our agenda is a full one. We have to ensure public safety for all our citizens all the time.''

Brett and Menino will face each other in November in what has become the first hotly contested mayor's race in Boston in more than a decade.

Flynn left no clear heir when he resigned to become U.S. ambassador to the Vatican and he didn't endorse a successor.

In other elections Tuesday, voters in six Oregon cities and one county approved the latest round of anti-gay rights measures, but the courts will have the last word on the issue.

In Wisconsin, veteran Rep. Mary Panzer easily won a special election, restoring a one-vote advantage the GOP won in the Wisconsin Senate this spring and lost when a lawmaker resigned this summer. Democrats control the Assembly.

Panzer edged Democrat Kimberly Dumas 3-to-1 in the heavily Republican district north of Milwaukee.

The Oregon measures forbid governments from granting people special treatment based on sexual orientation and are similar to ones passed earlier this year in eight Oregon cities and counties.

But the legality of the measures is in question. A state law took effect on Aug. 3 that would void the local ordinances.

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Boston's Flynn left office this summer in the middle of his third term. Crime, schools and city finances dominated debate during the short campaign.

The campaign marked the first heated race for mayor in a decade, when Flynn defeated challengers to succeed 16-year Mayor Kevin White.

BOSTON (AP) _ The acting mayor and a state legislator finished one-two in Tuesday's mayoral primary and will square off in a November election to pick a successor to longtime Mayor Raymond L. Flynn.

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	Sep. 22, 1993 12:42 AM ET
	BOSTON (AP) _ The acting mayor and a state legislator finished one-two in Tuesday's mayoral primary and will square off in a November election to pick a successor to longtime Mayor Raymond L. Flynn.